Every fan of horror films has at some point been asked to suggest a film that is "really" frightful.
The answer is more difficult than you may imagine. For starters, the term "scary" is highly subjective. The realization that "frightening" is not the same as "shocking," "provocative," or "gross" causes more confusion. We are all familiar with the sensation of fear. Your entire body reacts to it: your heart beats, your limbs go paralyzed, and your racing mind starts to fill you with adrenaline to prepare you for whatever perceived danger is ahead. Not every lover of horror is drawn to the genre because they love to feel frightened. But I do believe that every lover of the genre has one (or maybe even two) movies that they find to be really disturbing.
Here is a list of the scariest movies. These are sorted according to the public votes.
1. THE EXORCIST (1973)
Even if you disagree that The Exorcist is the scariest movie ever, the fact that it came in first on our list with a whopping 19% of the votes cast certainly isn't much of a surprise. The first film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, William Friedkin's adaptation of the same-named novel about a boy who is possessed by a demon and struggles to drive the demon from his body is the highest-grossing R-rated horror movie ever (it earned nine other nominations and took home two trophies). But aside from its reputation among critics and audiences, the movie is well-known for the widespread frenzy it caused across the nation, from protests over its contentious themes to tales of audience members fainting and feeling queasy. There's no disputing the impact the movie still has on many who view it for the first time, despite its dramatic pacing and perhaps antiquated effects when compared to other modern horror.
2. HEREDITARY (2018)
Ari Aster created a lasting impression with his feature directorial debut, a dark family drama on the essence of sadness wrapped in a supernatural horror film. The biggest shock in the movie came from, yet Toni Collette's depiction of disturbed mother Annie earned her a spot in the pantheon of historic Oscar snubs. We won't release it straight now, though. Let's just say that Hereditary was so well received by audiences that it propelled Aster to the number two spot on our list and established him as a filmmaker to watch.
3. THE CONJURING (2013)
James Wan has established himself as one of the modern masters of horror with films like Saw, Dead Silence, and Insidious, and this chiller is based on the experiences of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who played the Warrens, gave the shocks and freak-out moments weight by conveying a believable feeling of exhaustion. The Amityville Horror movies and The Conjuring 2 both took inspiration from the Warrens' work on the particular case that served as their most well-known accomplishment. Together, Wan and his co-leads found fresh terror in well-worn genre clichés, creating a huge cinematic universe that only keeps getting bigger.
4. THE SHINING (1980)
Pet Sematary, Misery, and Carrie are just a few of the Stephen King works that have been adapted for the big screen. The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, two non-horror films, are not even considered in these adaptations. The Shining as portrayed in Stanley Kubrick's film, however, is without a doubt the finest of all of them. A really terrifying rendition of the traditional haunted house story, The Shining is a masterwork of set and production design and stars an iconic Jack Nicholson performance. The film's jump scares, albeit few in number, are immensely horrific, but their real power lies in the way it gets under your skin and makes you experience Jack Torrance's slow descent into madness. It ranked fourth in our survey and is justifiably recognized as one of the finest horror films ever made.
5. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)
Following the top four films on this list, which together garnered 42% of the votes cast, were six films that each received around 3% of the votes. In other words, these last six films were separated by no more than 60 votes. The first of them is this low-budget slasher, which Tobe Hooper co-wrote and directed. It is inspired in part by Ed Gein's crimes. You guys, this may possibly occur! The rough appearance of Texas Chainsaw added to its sense of realism, making it even more horrifying. Gunnar Hansen's Leatherface opened the door for other brutes like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. There have been numerous attempts to revive the series, and one more is on the way, but none have been able to surpass the first in terms of the unadulterated, lavish horror that was produced by power tools.
6. THE RING (2002)
It's seldom simple to successfully adapt a concept from one culture to another, but Gore Verbinski did it with The Ring. Verbinski's adaptation of Hideo Nakata's famous supernatural thriller about a cursed cassette preserved the original's remarkable visual vision, which featured the ghost of a young girl wearing a white dress and having long black hair conceal her face. International audiences said that it worried them. Even though the movie wasn't as well-liked as its predecessor, Naomi Watts provides a superb performance, and for many people, it was their first exposure to East Asian horror movies.
7. HALLOWEEN (1978)
The seventh film on our list is the one that made John Carpenter famous and introduced the world to Jamie Lee Curtis, the ultimate scream queen. Halloween has a lot of suspense and some inventive thrills in a very short package, even while it may not have the same amount of realistic gore that we've come to anticipate from movies in that genre. This film is generally recognized as one of the pioneering works of the modern slasher subgenre. The legacy of the film is also largely untouchable: words like the "final girl," "giant, unstoppable murderer," and "final girl" have been ingrained in the lexicon of horror. Michael Myers' mask is now regarded as legendary. There is a reason the franchise is still in business after more than 40 years.
8. SINISTER (2012)
For those who didn't read the "scientific research" presented in the beginning, we've reached the movie they ranked the scariest. Before making his MCU debut in 2016 with Doctor Strange, director Scott Derrickson produced a series of horror films, some of which gained cult status. One of these was a small-scale haunted house/possession story starring Ethan Hawke as a true-crime novelist who moves his family into a house where a family was slain only to discover the new home could already be occupied by a very bad tenant. Due to the spooky snuff film angle, the story does have some similarities to The Ring. The script's author, C. Robert Cargill, is said to have been motivated by a nightmare he had after watching The Ring to come up with the story. The tense disclosures and scary set pieces, however, greatly outweighed any potentially recycled genre clichés for many viewers. Furthermore, it must be important because at least one review asserts that it is the scariest movie ever.
9. INSIDIOUS (2010)
The Conjuring, already higher on the list, was filmed before James Wan and Patrick Wilson worked together on this supernatural thriller about a young kid who goes into a coma and begins to channel a malevolent spirit. Although the narrative itself wasn't very innovative, Leigh Whannell, a frequent Wan collaborator, gave it an intriguing enough mythology to serve as the basis for three more movies. James Wan, the filmmaker of Insidious, has stated that he wanted to make something more spiritual as a response to Saw's overt cruelty. The end product is a fantastic chiller with one of the best jump scares ever captured on camera.
10. IT (2017)
Clown phobia is a real problem, despite how common it has grown to mention. If you need more evidence, we'd like to point out that IT shattered The Exorcist's 44-year record for the highest-grossing horror film ever thanks to its success at the box office in 2017. It is based on the eponymous Stephen King book. Oh, and unsurprisingly, it came in at number 10 on this list. The big-budget remake's director, Andy Muschietti, portrayed Pennywise, the evil, shape-shifting clown, in a novel and genuinely frightful way with Bill Skarsgard. Muschietti used nostalgia to communicate the story of traumatized children. The ideal blend of jump scares, breathtaking set pieces, and excellent CGI will produce a horror film that is both thrilling and frightful.
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